Two Beds and a Coffee Machine
by Kykura
Summary: About Tao Ren and Jun's dramatic past...


Two Beds and a Coffee Machine  
  
**This is a song fic about Tao Ren and Jun's life as a child living with their father. I was watching Shaman King and thought I know a perfect song for these tragic scenes . . . you know the ones!**  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. The song "Two Beds and a Coffee Machine" was written and property of Savage Garden.  
  
Tao Ren sighed as he walked along the dusty road of Tokyo. At his side were his friends, Yoh Asakura and Horo Horo. His sister, Jun, was also with them. The siblings were happy to be with each other away from home, neither wanted to leave the other behind at that horrible place.  
  
Ren had nightmares about his past frequently, Jun too. Every time he see his friend slapped, punched, kicked anything of the sort something inside of Ren snaps and his scars burn. The pain cannot be stopped by mere aspirin, for it is the scar in his mind of the memories of his childhood.  
  
A flashback flames in his mind. He remembers he was near the age of two or three, still considered a baby. His sister was about seven. It was a painful night, his mother shielding him from some of his father's blows. Jun was considered old enough to fend for herself; she was hiding behind the couch, he tear-stained cheeks shined due to the moisture still upon the skin. Ren noticed it and yet, he still didn't know how to respond as the couch fell over crushing Jun's tiny frame. She let a cry of pain pass her lips as he scrambled to get the sofa off of her then retreating to behind a chair on the opposite side of me.  
  
Ren let a single tear slide down his cheek as he shut his eyes tightly. His mother couldn't stop Father's arm from crashing into his tiny body. Ren gasped and shut his eyes tighter. He rose his arms trying to shield his head as a glass cup was crashed on his mothers arms. She began to yell at her husband.  
  
Ren still doesn't know how that night finally ended. Or how all the blood and the bruises, how they ever went away. But somehow they did. Morning rolled around, and the usual routine began again. His mother and Jun appeared in the doorway of his room. Jun picked Ren up and carried him out of the room following their mother.  
  
"And she takes another step  
  
Slowly she opens the door  
  
Check that he is sleeping  
  
Picks up all the broken glass  
  
And furniture on the floor  
  
Been up half the night screaming  
  
Now it's time to get away  
  
Pack up the kids in the car"  
  
Ren remembers the car, the black car that he was always in at the time of the morning, at least the days that he was at home. Jun would sit next to him, or hold him. She would fall asleep with Ren in her arms, holding him tight to her chest. It would make Ren feel safe, but he still wouldn't sleep. His eyes were glued open and he would look at his sister's purple and blue bruises and scars. He looked up and saw his mother's hands holding the steering wheel. Her arms were blood-stained from the glass, and some cuts had cloth from her bed sheets wrapped around them, stopping the blood from emerging.  
  
Ren looked out the window and saw endless fields of grass. There were horses and cows freely roaming them eating and sleeping. Ren couldn't help to think of how nice it would be to be that free. Maybe then the pain would go away.  
  
"Another bruise to try and hide  
  
Another alibi to write  
  
Another ditch in the road  
  
You keep moving  
  
Another stop sign  
  
You keep moving  
  
And the years go by so fast  
  
Wonder how I ever made it through"  
  
Jun takes Ren out of his car seat, and puts him in her lap. She whispers sweet words into his ear. They were words of love, saying that it would be alright, and we'll be fine mom will save us. Ren always felt a little better when Jun would say these things, he believed her. But each time this happened, his faith dropped, and his hopes lessened. His smile would fade and his thoughts were black. He would shut his eyes eventually and fall sleep. Jun would watch over him when she was awake.  
  
"There are children to think of  
  
Baby's asleep in the backseat  
  
Wonder how they'll ever make it  
  
Through this living nightmare  
  
But the mind is an amazing thing  
  
Full of candy dreams and new toys  
  
And another cheap hotel  
  
Two beds and a coffee machine"  
  
Their mother would rent a hotel room for a day or two and they would live there. Ren and Jun couldn't sleep at night. Their mother even had to leave the light on. Every time Ren and Jun shut their eyes they saw their father beating them or their things broken. Mom couldn't see in the dark room, it was the perfect setting for a sneak attack from her husband. She would wince and twitch in her dreams, feeling the hits again in her mind. Ren would hear her yelp softly and he would become tense. Jun would hold him close and their eyes would dart around the room, making sure he wasn't there.  
  
"There are groceries to buy  
  
And she knows she'll have to go home"  
  
In the morning, Jun and Ren would be hanging on by a thread, a sleepless night didn't promise results or happiness. Their mother would sigh and look to her children. Her eyes would wobble and tears would fall. Ren and Jun would become soft and run to hug their savior called Mom. Mother would bend down and hug the two innocent children. She would sob and apologize for all of this. Jun would say it's alright and Ren would only nod and smile weakly in agreement.  
  
Their mother would lead them down the stairs of the hotel and out to the parking lot. She would unlock the car. There were times where Ren and Jun would stop and stare at the blackness of the paint. It was a symbol of their pain; they knew the car meant torture. As soon as they got into the car they knew it would be going back home to more thrashing. It would take their mother longer each time to get them into the car. On the way home Jun would hold Ren tighter, and they both would quiver.  
  
"Another ditch in the road  
  
You keep moving  
  
Another stop sign  
  
You keep moving on  
  
And the years go by so fast  
  
Wonder how I ever made it through"  
  
Ren would look out the window again and see the horses galloping through the meadows. He saw the eagles soar through the vast blue sky without a care in the world. He saw the farmers watering and tending to their crops. He saw then laughing and talking with their friends and children milking the cows. He wished that his father was like the farmer, kind, easy-going and non-abusive. He wanted to milk the cows early in the morning and hoe the soil in the field and plant the corn in the evening.  
  
But then the sick feeling in the stomach would hit. The nervousness of what would happen when they would arrive back at home. Each time they ran away the whipping and the yelling grew worse than the time before. Images of what happened last time flared in Jun's mind. The sting of the memory was almost worse than the reality of it.  
  
"Another bruise to try and hide  
  
Another alibi to write  
  
Another lonely highway  
  
In the black of night  
  
There's hope in the darkness  
  
You know you're going to make it"  
  
Ren and Jun knew, as well as their mother, that the whole goal of their lives was for Ren to become the Shaman King. That was all that their father cared about. He wouldn't kill Ren for that one reason. And they all knew that once the children were preteens they could leave home to train for the Shaman Fights. Only a few more years . . .  
  
Home was only a few more miles. The churning of stomachs had ceased. As miles flew by and time raced by slowly Ren grew more courage. He may only be a toddler but he knew it wasn't right.  
  
"Another ditch in the road  
  
You keep moving  
  
Another stop sign  
  
You keep moving on  
  
And the years go by so fast  
  
Silent fortress built to last  
  
Wonder how I ever made it"  
  
Now Ren was thirteen. He was away from home and in Japan. Even though it was a whole other country, the scars still throb and blaze. But ever since he was a little toddler he had made the goal to stand up to his father.  
  
Once he had done that, he had made friends. And the deaths he saw and never knew were at least a little bit better. He was now a complete human; he knew the joys of life. The draftiness and bitterness of Ren had grown much warmer than it used to. He still may be more distant and harder to reach; he has gotten rid of the Tao family yin yang symbol on his back, furthermore relieving him from ever becoming like his father.  
  
Jun was still calm and kind, she too had stood up for herself as well as her brother. She had been struck down, as well as her brother. But it was a meaningful lesson; friendship isn't a bad thing. It doesn't make you weaker; but stronger. With the help of Ren and his new friends they had made his dad slightly less ill from anger. Everything turns out fine if you keep holding on to the ones you love.  
  
**A/N: Well, any thoughts people? I personally found that it was a touching story about the Tao family's angry, hurtful past. Again, I'd like to say that the song does not belong to me. Please, please, please send it a review. It helps me a lot with future work.** 


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